THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 



in the gravels of the Narbada Valley of limb bones beside which those of the 

 skeleton last mentioned appear almost puny, many of these fossil bones being 

 exhibited in the geological galleries of theCalcutta Museum. These elephants 

 belonged, however, to an extinct species. 



From the height of the Indian elephant we turn naturally to the largest 

 dimensions and weight of its tusks. Mr. Sanderson states that the largest 

 tusks he ever obtained measured 5 feet along the curve, with a circumference 

 of 16 inches at their junction with the gum ; while the weight of the pair was 

 74^ pounds. The single perfect tusk of the elephant shot by Sir V. Brooke, 

 to which allusion has been made, measured 8 feet, with a maximum girth of 

 16'9 inches, and weighed 90 pounds. Mr. Blanford mentions, however, that 

 a somewhat shorter tusk weighed upwards of 100 pounds ; and two pairs 

 from the Garo Hills, mentioned in Thi A&'wn newspaper in October, 1888, are 

 stated to have been respectively of 155 and 357 pounds weight. The tusks of 

 the large skeleton in the Calcutta Museum have unfortunately been removed, 

 but the size of their sockets indicates that they must have been immense. All 

 these dimensions are, however, comparatively small when set against those of 

 unusually large African elephants ; Sir Samuel Baker referring to single 

 tusks of that species, -which weighed respectively 149, 172, and 188 pounds ; 

 while Sir E. G. Loder has a tusk of 184 pounds in weight. Huge as are the 

 tusks indicated by such weights, they must, however, have been small by the 

 side of those of an extinct Indian elephant from the Siwalik hills, of which 

 the skull is preserved in the British Museum. The tusks of this monster 

 have a total length of about 12 feet 9 inches, with a girth of 26 inches near 

 the base ; and the weight of each in the living state may be safely estimated 

 at considerably over 200 pounds. While on the subject of elephants' tusks, 

 we may take the opportunity of mentioning that, as we learn from Mr. 

 Sanderson's book, there appears to be a widespread belief that elephants have 

 no milk or deciduous tusks. Nevertheless, such tusks are developed in all 

 young elephants, and may be seen in place in skulls of suitable age. They 

 may be at once distinguished from the permanent tusks by the circumstance 

 that their lower extremities are completely closed, whereas those of the latter 

 always remain open. These milk-tusks are, however, so small, and are shed 

 at such an early age, that their fall is not likely to be noticed by the mo/iowts, 

 even when they have under their charge animals sufficiently young for this 

 change to take place. 



In India, elephants, as a rule, do not breed in captivity, but in Burma 

 they not unfrequently do so ; and a writer in The Asian newspaper of April, 

 1895, states that in the Chindwin division, there were kept a male and "five 

 female elephants ; four out of the five female elephants have calved since last 

 September, and these calves will go and suck any elephant they like without 

 the elephant objecting. I liave seen two calves go and suck one elephant 

 at the same time, then go off to another and suck her. Elephants, without a 

 calf, will allow another's calf to suck them. This I noticed down m Pyin- 

 niana, where one of the elephants calved ; the calf used to go round and suck 

 three of the females. Again, with the elephants up here, one calved in Sep- 

 tember, another in October, a third in February, and the fourth m March. 

 The calf that was born in September used to regularly suck the elephant that 

 calved in October, and this before her calf was born ; in fact, it used to follow 

 the one that had not calved more than it did its own mother, and tiie female 

 seemed to be as fond of the calf as if it had been her own. \\ hen Iso. 2 

 calved in October it did not make any difference, both the calves sucked either 



